Have I got news for you

One year into her post, Helen Boaden, the BBC's director of news and current affairs talks to Matt Wells about the future of News 24, the appointment of political editor Nick Robinson - and how she loves a great scoop

It is not very often you can say that the head of the biggest broadcast news outfit in the world has led you up the stairs to her office by the hand, giggling and exchanging anecdotes. But do not be beguiled by Helen Boaden's touchy-feely exterior, for it is a general rule that heads of big broadcast news organisations do not generally get where they are today by being touchy-feely all of the time.

And in the first year in the job as director of news at the BBC, Boaden's thick skin has been tested to the limit. Handed what some would describe as the poisoned chalice of putting back together an organisation battered by one of the worst rows with government in its 80-year history, Boaden has also had to fend off the usual array of criticisms that seem to dog all holders of her office: that BBC News is too cautious or too bold; that News 24 is a hopeless excuse for a rolling news network; that BBC journalists never break any stories; and that Panorama/Today/Newsnight are pale shadows of their former selves. All of that, and steer the organisation through the testing period of covering two global-scale natural disasters abroad and one big terrorist attack at home, and the challenges posed by the increased demands of and resources available to the ordinary viewer and listener - the rise of the "citizen journalist".

It has to be said that the verdict on her tenure so far is mixed. Rank-and-file journalists felt the corporation's response to the tsunami at the end of December was slow, and that it was outgunned by Sky and the lesser-resourced ITV. Boaden was stung by the criticism, which she felt was unfair. Since then ITV has ridden high on its scoops in the aftermath of the London bombings, particularly its exclusive on the bungled shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, described by Chris Shaw, in charge of news at rival Five, as probably the best story in the 50-year history of ITN.

But the early verdict on the BBC's coverage of the floods in New Orleans is that it has been exemplary, with lessons learned from the tsunami bringing a quick response to the scale of the disaster and assured location reports from the region.

Boaden says she has a clear idea of what she expects from BBC news, especially its rolling news service. "I think News 24 is about being first, right and reliable. The danger with 24-hour news is that it becomes a rolling service of rumour and speculation and that is absolutely not what we want for News 24." The corporation's special status as a publicly-funded broadcaster, she says, means it cannot stick its neck out in the way that rivals can and do. "Because it's the BBC you want it to be first but you want it to be right. We are careful; I don't think we're cautious. The public expects us to be careful with facts because - cliche upon cliche - facts really are sacred, especially at a time when news is increasingly led by opinion and because of the vast expansion by a lot of speculation."

Her vision was clear in the output around the time of the London bombings. Sky took an early punt on terrorism, emboldened by a witness report of the bus explosion by one of its producers. But without independent corroboration, the BBC stuck with the reports of a power surge on the London underground for most of the morning on July 7 - and Boaden says it was right to do so. "There was a moment where that was what the story was. And we continued to go with that until we had verifiable evidence. Some of our competitors talked immediately of 90 dead. They talked about three bus bombs. That was off a range of various wire services and it was complete speculation and we wouldn't go with that. We would be careful - we would try to check things out."

Boaden says her vision is supported by News 24 viewers, who are turning to the channel in greater numbers than Sky - mostly because of the success of Freeview and the older, more conservative audience this brings. "News 24 is now beating Sky consistently in terms of reach and that shows there are an awful lot of people out there who want reliability. They can get speculation everywhere."

This is the point at which Nick Pollard, the head of Sky News, will probably throw the newspaper across the newsroom (or be tempted to put his fist through the computer screen, depending on how he is reading this article): Sky fiercely disputes that it is wrong any more than anyone else, and even goes so far as to produce research that shows this. But Boaden is a clever competitor, and knows that to build up the brand, you have to knock the opposition, particularly in the places where it is perceived to be weak. Especially as Sky News is about to come out with a long-awaited (and somewhat delayed) multimillion-pound relaunch.

But reading between Boaden's lines, it is clear that News 24 is not yet the product she wants it to be: "I think it's starting to be an incredibly powerful service," she says. "It's more confident, it looks better, the audience is connecting to it, you always want all your services to continue to improve and I think the future is News 24's." Work very much in progress, it seems.

And work that has fallen into the hands of Peter Horrocks, who has been promoted from the current affairs unit to run News 24 as head of all BBC TV news. He has a reputation as an energetic populist and it will be his job to sort out the service once and for all. "The appointment of Horrocks is fantastic news," says one senior BBC correspondent. "He's got bags of balls and he's not a yes man."

Meanwhile Boaden is grappling with the bigger-picture issues such as the whole citizen journalism thing - or "user-generated content", as the BBC calls it internally. She recalls a meeting, soon after she took charge, when the implications of the new phenomenon were discussed. It was thought, she says, that the tipping point would come in two or three years' time; in fact, it has already arrived. "It began with Boscastle when all the good footage came from people using their own equipment. The tsunami added to that. And with the London bombs we had an extraordinary response, initially unsolicited, with people ringing in, sending emails and sending pictures from their cameras."

But she is cautious about being too over-enthusiastic about the benefits: "I think we are in the honeymoon period for all of this because there are going to come issues of veracity, and there may be a moment where rights issues suddenly loom, where people begin to feel that this material that they've created is something to make money from." Boaden points to the Daily Mirror fake Iraq abuse pictures as an example of why all news organisations must be wary of unsolicited pictures. Another issue that plagues BBC directors of news and current affairs is the scheduling of Panorama. She believes, however, that the debate is over, and that 10.15pm on Sunday is the least worst option, a slot protected from the competitive peak-time battleground. There will, however, continue to be plenty of Panorama specials in peak time; more money is going into Real Story, which is building a name for itself as a more populist current affairs strand; and there will be a new investigative unit in Manchester.

The fiercest criticism faced by Boaden recently was an excoriating attack in the Guardian by Polly Toynbee, who was furious that Newsnight's Martha Kearney had been passed over for the political editor's job for ITV's Nick Robinson. There have been suggestions that Boaden favoured Kearney: "There was debate and in the end it was an entirely unanimous decision," Boaden says, adding that Robinson would be "superb" at the job. Sense of humour

There have also been suggestions that Robinson did not apply for the position. This is the only time in the interview that Boaden falters. "Nobody ... [pause] ... did he apply for it? ... He did apply for it ..." Eventually, after prompting from the PR minder, she says: "Nick did apply for the job and we obviously had to protect him as we protected a range of people who came from interviews because all of them have other jobs. It was absolutely not a fix." Funny to use the word "fix" in answer to a question that had not suggested it.

Back on sure ground, Boaden says that Robinson was appointed in part because of his story-getting abilities. "He's good with words, he's good with images and he's got a sense of humour. He'll engage the public and he gets scoops, and that's something I'm rather keen on," she says. At last, perhaps those damaging remarks by Mark Byford, acting up as director general after the resignation of Greg Dyke, when he said the BBC wasn't in the business of exclusives here, there and everywhere, can be laid to rest. There it is in black and white: BBC News boss "keen on scoops".

All Boaden needs now is for her journalists to get a few of them, and she'll be laughing. Even more than she does already.

Curriculum VitaeAge 49Education BA in English, University of Sussex, degree in radio journalism, London College of Printing. Honorary doctorates from Sussex and University of East Anglia Career1979 radio journalist, WBAI, New York 1983 news producer, BBC Radio Leeds 1991 editor, File on 4 1985 Presenter of Woman's Hour 1997 head of business programmes 1998 head of current affairs 2000 controller, Radio 4 2002 also controller, BBC 7 2004 director, BBC news and current affairs